Hideko Maehata

Hideko Maehata (1914 to 1995) was a Japanese breaststroke swimmer and the first Japanese and first Asian woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Born in Hashimoto, Wakayama, the daughter of a tofu maker, she learned to swim in the Kinokawa River. She won silver in the 200 metre breaststroke at the 1932 Los Angeles Games, beaten by Clare Dennis by a tenth of a second, then trained for four years and set a world record in 1933. At the 1936 Berlin Olympics she held off the German champion Martha Genenger to win gold, a race broadcast live on Japanese radio. She married in 1937, was honoured with the Purple Ribbon of Merit in 1964, entered the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1979 and was named a Person of Cultural Merit in 1990.